<— SEP 13     SEP 15 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1852 Henry Luff
1853 Jake Goodman

Jacob Goodman was a first baseman of some skill that played in the late 1870s and 1880s. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the fourth of six children to Israel and Catharine Price Goodman, Jacob learned the game on the sandlots there when he wasn’t working as a laborer in his teens to help the family (his father was a carpenter and his mother dealt with a regularly growing family). Eventually Jacob signed with the amateur Lancaster Ironsides and, later, in Reading where he joined top amateur clubs including the Reading Actives. This led to his getting a chance to play professionally – and in 1877 Goodman was playing for Pittsburgh in the International Association. A year later, he was the regular first baseman for the Milwaukee Grays of the National League, though admittedly a bit overmatched; he batted just .246 with none of the bonuses (power/walks).

At that point, he returned to Reading and played in some of the top state semi-pro teams and organizations earning a second shot at the big leagues. In 1882 he was signed by Pittsburgh of the American Association and this time he batted .317 with four extra base hits in his ten games. However, Goodman injured his knee in a game against Louisville while running the bases and never returned to the team. By the end of the year, he was playing for the Reading Actives again.

Still, Goodman signed with Trenton in the Interstate Association where he batted .356, leading to a promotion of sorts to Lancaster of the Eastern League where he continued hitting at this torrid pace. In fact, though Goodman’s record doesn’t suggest that he was a power hitter, he did hit the longest home run on the Lancaster Grounds – a shot clearing the centerfield pack and nearly reaching a nearby roadway. Goodman signed with Trenton for 1885 but didn’t stay long (he was “granted a ticket of leave…” in early June). To be fair, he wasn’t batting very well there. And, when Goodman returned to Lancaster in 1885 his batting wasn’t nearly as productive as it had been in 1883 or 1884. He played briefly in 1886, but Goodman’s baseball days were behind him. Goodman worked in the rolling mills of Lancaster instead.

By 1890, Goodman began having other problems, namely worsening strokes and eventually the strokes took him to the next league; his first stroke may have occurred as early as 1886. Over time, he began having issues with dementia which stayed with him until the end of his life. Articles about his demise mention a connection between a head trauma from a beaning while with Lancaster in 1884 and his early death; he was 36 or 37 when he died at his parents’ home in Reading, Pennsylvania on March 9, 1890. However, other articles mention how there is no local memory of that having happened – and I looked through games from 1884 and 1885 and I can’t find a game or even a mention of that happening.

(Most encyclopedia entries have Goodman’s birthdate as September 14, 1853, but his gravestone in Charles Evans Cemetery says 1852.)

Sources:

1860, 1870, 1880 US Census Records

“Louisville Wins a Game,” Pittsburgh Post, May 30, 1882: 4.
“A Remarkable Game,” Harrisburg Daily Patriot, August 23, 1882: 1.
“The National Sport,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 23, 1884: 2.
“An Unearned Victory, Trenton Times, June 2, 1885: 1.
“Base Ball Briefs,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 20, 1885: 1.
“Base Ball Briefs,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 14, 1886: 1.
“The Ball Field,” Wilkes-Barre Leader, May 19, 1886: 1.
“Nearing the Season’s End,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, October 5, 1886: 1.
“Smitten with Paralysis,” Lancaster New Era, April 8, 1889: 1.
“Died in Reading,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, March 10, 1890: 1.
“Sporting Small Shot,” Harrisburg Telegraph, March 11, 1890: 1.
“Jacob Goodman, the Ball Player,” Lancaster New Era, March 15, 1890: 5.
“Allegheny First Baseman,” Pittsburgh Post, November 1, 1890: 6.

1865 George Aloysius (Doc) Leitner
1869 Charles Augustus (Kid) Nichols
1879 Jack Dunleavy
1882 Phil Cooney
1882 Thomas Francis (Bunny) Madden
1884 Andy O’Connor
1884 Willie Hogan
1888 Artemus Ward (Nick) Allen
1888 Emil Henry (Reggie) Richter
1895 Ben Glaspy
1899 Gordon Zeigler
1907 Willie Burnham
1908 John Bottarini
1912 George Peacock (Icehouse) Wilson
1917 John Douglas
1924 Jerry Coleman
1927 Darius Dutton (Dave) Hillman
1927 Jim Fanning
1931 Don Williams
1933 Fred Green
1934 Melvin Gray (Bob) Perry
1936 Stan Williams
1938 Frank Carpin
1945 Curtis Brown
1947 Harry Parker
1957 Tim Wallach
1957 Jerry Don Gleaton
1965 Troy Neel
1966 Mike Draper
1969 Mike Durant
1972 David Bell
1973 Joe Winkelsas
1974 Chad Bradford
1975 George Lombard
1981 Cody Clark
1983 John Hester
1984 Robert Mosebach
1984 Josh Outman
1985 Brandon Hicks
1985 Delmon Young
1989 Francisco Arcia
1990 Derek Law
1990 Cody Anderson
1991 Gregory Polanco
1993 Andrew Vasquez
1994 Jake Brentz
1994 John King

OBITUARIES:

1900 Ed Knouff
1907 Jack Wentz
1908 Ike Van Zandt
1914 Jim McDonald
1930 Jim McCauley
1932 Henry Jackson
1940 Andy Knox
1943 John O’Neil
1943 Bill Murray
1949 Billy Martin
1950 Billy Ging
1951 Wally Roettger
1959 Bill Upham
1960 Herman Watts
1967 Walt Bond
1968 Hans Lobert
1969 Jackie Tavener
1970 Jimmie Long
1970 Sam Lanford
1971 Bill Holden
1973 Rene Monteagudo
1973 Sloppy Thurston
1977 Beau Bell
1984 Jimmy Pofahl
1984 Edgar Barnhart
1993 Bill Atwood
2000 Leroy Cromartie
2000 George Myatt
2002 Eddie Shokes
2002 Jim McKee
2016 Dick Adams
2018 Phil Clark
2019 Tom Waddell
2022 Cal Browning

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!

1923 First baseman George Burns completes an unassisted triple play. The Red Sox fielder snags a liner, tagged the runner coming from first, and outran a base runner back to second base.

1990 Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. hit back to back homers off of Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill.

2008 The Astros, relocated due to a hurricane, lose a home game in Milwaukee to the Cubs as Carlos Zambrano throws a no-hitter.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1970 Oakland sent Jim “Mudcat” Grant to the Pirates for Angel Mangual.